Narrabri swimmer Harry Bennett earns 11 medals in three days

Two meets, three days, six personal best times, 11 medals – 15-year-old Narrabri swimmer Harry Bennett just keeps getting better.

Harry, the son of Anne and Garry Bennett, competed in four events at the NSW All Schools Swimming Championships last Friday at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre where he earned two bronze medals.

He then backed up to compete in nine events across the two-day Swimming North Coast Short Course Area Championships meet held in Forster on the weekend at which he won five gold medals and earned four more of the silver variety.

Harry chose to compete at that Forster meet in preparation for the Swimming NSW Country Short Course Championships which will be held at SOPAC from Friday, June 25, to Sunday, June 27.

The Narrabri boy has qualified for every event at that meet but is yet to decide how many he will compete in across the three days.

Harry’s coach, Narrabri’s Karla Carruthers, told The Courier that she was confident the 15-year-old could bring home more medals from the NSW Country Short Course Championships.

“I’m so proud of Harry and I have no words to describe him because I think he’s a very hidden talent,” Carruthers said.

“Coming from out here he has no one at his level to train with but as I’ve said before he has a very strong mindset and he has a good connection with me too, whatever I tell him he just does it.

“He’s qualified for every event at short course country champs but we’ll wait for the program to come out to choose how many he’ll go in.

“He can definitely medal there I would imagine.”

Carruthers said that Harry well and truly rose to the occasion at the NSW All Schools Swimming Championships on Friday.

“He really did amazing,” Carruthers said.

“I thought he had a chance (at medalling) in the 50 fly but the 100 freestyle was a surprise.

“He’s a good racer and he just went for it and got bronze, it was awesome.

“His the best racer that I’ve ever seen from around here.

“Pressure causes some swimmers, even the very good ones, to fold a little bit sometimes. But Harry seems to be able to lift under pressure.”

Harry’s nine top-two finishes across the weekend at the Swimming North Coast Short Course Area Championships came as no surprise to his proud coach.

“I’m not surprised at all, I know he can do that,” she said.

“Short course racing is a completely different competition to long course racing.

“I knew he’d be good at it because he’s really good at his underwaters and in short course there’s more turns.”

At SOPAC on Friday, Harry represented St Mary’s College Gunnedah in the Combined Catholic Colleges team at the NSW All Schools Swimming Championships.

He competed in four events across the day, two of which he placed third in.

He earned a bronze medal in his first event which was the boys’ 15-years 50-metre butterfly. He swam a personal best 27.15 to shave 0.35 seconds off his seed time and missed out on the gold medal by a tenth of a second.

Harry then finished eighth in the boys’ 15-16-years 100-metre backstroke event, before earning another bronze medal in his third event of the day which was the boys’ 15-years 100-metre freestyle. He swam a 55.38 in that event as he dropped a quarter of a second off his seed time.

In his fourth and final event on Friday, Harry finished seventh in the boys’ 15-years 50-metre backstroke.

Harry, his mother and his coach then set off for Forster where they arrived that night ahead of the weekend’s Swimming North Coast Short Course Area Championships.

Representing Wee Waa Swimming Club at that meet, Harry competed in four events on Saturday followed by five more on Sunday.

Harry earned three golds medals on Saturday after winning the men’s 50-metre butterfly, 100-metre backstroke and 200-metre individual medley.

His second event of the day was the men’s 50-metre freestyle in which he placed second. He swam a 0.05-second PB in that race and also earned a 0.96-second PB in the backstroke event.

On Sunday, Harry won two more gold medals either side of three silver medal finishes in his sixth, seventh and eighth events of the meet.

In his fifth event, the men’s 400-metre medley, he earned another gold medal and secured a 1.22-second PB to start the day in style.

He then placed second in the men’s 100-metre freestyle, 100-metre butterfly and 200-metre freestyle events before finishing the weekend on a high with a gold medal and 0.24-second PB in the men’s 50-metre backstroke event.